Let’s face it, the romantic comedy has had more downs then ups recently, so it’s such a pleasure to report that "Definitely, Maybe" puts a fresh spin on the genre.

Expanding star Reynolds’ moves into leading man territory and, adding another solid performance from young Breslin and Weisz, along with Fisher and Banks, while delivering on it romantic comedy premise, the film accomplishes plenty.

Will Hayes (Reynolds) is young, well off, has a great daughter, and, oh yeah, he’s just received divorce papers. The day can’t possibly get any worse. Want to bet?

Picking up his daughter Maya (Breslin) at school, he finds out she’s just come from her first sex education class. Sure, the questions she asks are uncomfortable, but not as much as the main one she asks: How did he meet and fall for her mother?

Thinking he’s pretty smart and that she’ll give up if he makes it a little hard, he decides to change the names and make it more of a mystery: Which one of the three former girlfriends became her mother? Was it his hometown sweetheart, Emily (Banks); or the unconventional co-worker on the Bill Clinton campaign, April (Fisher); or the older, sexy, aspiring journalist, Summer (Weisz)?

The writer/director Brooks combines strong dimensional characters, plenty of snappy dialogue, a story filled with plenty of heart but never overly sappy, and emotions that sneak up on the viewer. The dialogue has plenty of wit that Reynolds takes great advantage of.

Here, Reynolds is used much like Hugh Grant in those British romantic/comedies – a good-looking guy that just can’t seem to figure out women. Like Grant, Reynolds gives the character a disarming charm that instantly makes Will likable. Sure, he’s good-looking, but the audience never feels like he knows it. The audience follows his adventure or misadventure depending on how you look at it.

Even better is how writer/director Brooks shows Will maturing through the years; the idea that, maybe, at a certain time in a person’s life, it isn’t necessarily the partner but the time that decides when things are right.

Another strong point is the female characters. Each one has a distinct personality. Fisher, as she has proven in "Wedding Crashers" and other films, has such strong comic timing, and she takes you back. Her scenes with Reynolds have a spark that truly lights up the film.

Weisz and Reynolds are just plain sexy together, while Banks and Reynolds fill the screen with a wholesome sweetness. How often can any romantic comedy give an audience all that?

Breslin is cute, sharp, and funny in her scenes with an immediate connection to Reynolds, and they make the father/daughter dynamic work.

Then, to top it all off, is a cameo by Kline as a booze-loving writer. He is funny and a little sad in every scene he’s in. It looks easy.